A Phase 1 Randomized, Blinded, Placebo-Controlled, Single- and Multiple-Ascending Dose Study to Evaluate the Safety, Tolerability, and Pharmacokinetics, With an Open-Label Target Occupancy Study of BIIB113 in Healthy Participants
Parts A and B: The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the safety and tolerability of single and multiple ascending oral doses of BIIB113 in healthy participants. The secondary objectives of this study are to evaluate the single and multiple oral dose pharmacokinetic (PK) profile of BIIB113 in healthy participants and to evaluate the effect of food on the single oral dose of BIIB113 in healthy participants of Part A cohort 3. Part C: The primary objectives of this study are to evaluate the safety and tolerability of single and multiple ascending oral doses of BIIB113 in healthy participants and to determine target occupancy (TO) as measured by O-GlcNAcase-Positron Emission Tomography (OGA-PET) of single and multiple oral doses of BIIB113 in healthy participants.
2026-01-01·JPAD-Journal of Prevention of Alzheimers Disease
Erratum to “Results of the first-in-human, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, single- and multiple-ascending dose study of BIIB113 in healthy volunteers” [The Journal of Prevention of Alzheimer's Disease volume 12 (2025) 100302]
作者: Nery, Flavia C ; Wilkes, Denisa ; Arnold, H Moore ; Landen, Jaren ; Yachnin, Jeffrey ; Suttle, Ben ; Wu, Shuang ; Bullain, Szofia ; Varrone, Andrea ; Jones, Lori ; Hirschhorn, Beth ; Nag, Sangram ; Curiale, Gioacchino ; Gallagher, Diana ; Stenkrona, Per ; Xie, Jing ; Bolin, Martin ; Singh, Dave ; Halldin, Christer ; Yesilalan, Esin ; Kaliszczak, Maciej ; Morén, Anton Forsberg ; Hering, Heike
2025-09-01·JPAD-Journal of Prevention of Alzheimers Disease
Results of the first-in-human, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, single- and multiple-ascending dose study of BIIB113 in healthy volunteers
Article
作者: Nery, Flavia C ; Wilkes, Denisa ; Landen, Jaren ; Arnold, H Moore ; Yachnin, Jeffrey ; Wu, Shuang ; Suttle, Ben ; Bullain, Szofia ; Varrone, Andrea ; Hirschhorn, Beth ; Jones, Lori ; Curiale, Gioacchino ; Nag, Sangram ; Gallagher, Diana ; Stenkrona, Per ; Xie, Jing ; Singh, Dave ; Bolin, Martin ; Halldin, Christer ; Yesilalan, Esin ; Kaliszczak, Maciej ; Morén, Anton Forsberg ; Hering, Heike
BACKGROUND:
Preclinical studies have demonstrated that inhibition of the O-linked β-N-acetylglucosaminidase enzyme increases tau O-linked β-N-acetylglucosaminylation and may attenuate tau pathology in Alzheimer's disease.
OBJECTIVES:
To examine the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and target occupancy of single- and multiple-ascending oral doses of the small-molecule O-linked β-N-acetylglucosaminidase inhibitor, BIIB113.
DESIGN:
Study 276HV101 was a first-in-human, multicenter, Phase 1, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, single- and multiple-ascending dose trial.
SETTING:
72 participants were enrolled from February 2022 through July 2023.
PARTICIPANTS:
Adult healthy female and infertile/vasectomized male participants.
INTERVENTION:
In the single-ascending dose substudy, participants received a single dose of placebo or BIIB113 0.5, 3, 15, or 50 mg. In the 14-day multiple-ascending dose substudy, participants received placebo or BIIB113 15 or 50 mg once daily. In the target occupancy substudy, participants received either a single dose of BIIB113 0.5 or 3 mg or a once-daily dose of BIIB113 0.5 mg.
MEASUREMENTS:
Safety and tolerability were measured by incidence of adverse events. Pharmacokinetic and concentration-time profiles were assessed. Target occupancy was evaluated using the carbon-11 BIO-1819,578 radioligand.
RESULTS:
BIIB113 was generally well tolerated. Pharmacokinetics were linear over the dose range, with a half-life of approximately 30 h. Administration with food decreased the rate but did not affect the extent of absorption. There were no clinically meaningful differences in pharmacokinetics between elderly and nonelderly participants. Multiple once-daily doses of BIIB113 0.5 mg maintained a target occupancy of ≥90 % up to 48 h.
CONCLUSIONS:
BIIB113 was well tolerated and achieved high levels of target occupancy.
A build-up of the abnormal tau can contribute to Alzheimer’s disease symptoms. Credit: Andrew Brookes via Getty Images.
After Eli Lilly and Biogen’s setbacks in developing O-GlaNAcase (OGA) inhibitors for Alzheimer’s disease, Asceneuron has now halted its own Phase II trial of ASN51, its experimental oral OGA inhibitor.
The company disclosed the decision in an update to the federal clinical trials database
ClinicalTrials.gov
, describing it as “strategic” without providing further details. The trial, which kicked off in October 2024, was expected to run for two years.
The study (NCT06677203) was set to evaluate two doses of ASN51 against a placebo in 123 patients with early Alzheimer’s, focusing on safety, tolerability, suicide severity assessment through the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS), and tau protein levels in cerebrospinal fluid. Asceneuron had previously said that ASN51 could be a disease-modifying therapy, with applications beyond Alzheimer’s in diseases such as Parkinson’s and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
The decision to move ASN51 into this Phase II study was supported by a
$100m Series C funding round
announced in July 2024. The financing was led by Novo Holdings, the controlling shareholder of Novo Nordisk.
Novo Holdings’ senior partner for venture investments Naveed Siddiqi described ASN51 as offering “the potential paradigm shift” in Alzheimer’s treatment at the time of the funding round. Asceneuron had already demonstrated in multiple Phase I studies that ASN51 reaches the nervous system and impacts the OGA enzyme.
OGA inhibitors have been explored as a potential new class of disease-modifying treatments for Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases due to their ability to target tau protein accumulation. Unlike amyloid-targeting therapies – such as Eisai and Biogen’s Leqembi (lecanemab) – that have dominated Alzheimer’s drug development, OGA inhibitors aim to slow disease progression by preventing the buildup of toxic tau aggregates in the brain.
This termination follows setbacks for other OGA inhibitors in development. In August 2024, Eli Lilly disclosed that its OGA inhibitor, LY3372689, failed to meet the primary endpoint in a Phase II trial (NCT05063539) for early symptomatic Alzheimer’s. The study did not show a statistically significant benefit in slowing disease progression as measured by the integrated Alzheimer’s Disease Rating Scale (iADRS). Lilly also previously abandoned its antibody-based tau inhibitor zagotenemab in 2021 while Roche discontinued the development of semorinemab in January 2024. Last month, Biogen discontinued an early-stage OGA inhibitor programme, BIIB113.
Beyond ASN51, Asceneuron has another OGA inhibitor, ASN90, which it licensed to Ferrer in February 2023. ASN90 is currently in a Phase II trial (NCT06355531) for progressive supranuclear palsy, a rare tau-related neurodegenerative disorder.